Climate change, cross-border displacement and human rights: is there a protection gap and will COP21 help close it?

The 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), to be held in Paris later this year, will not only be one of the most important environmental conferences ever held, but also one of the most important human rights gatherings of the past half-century. The ability of states to reach – or not – a new and ambitious global agreement in Paris will have a determinative impact on the lives, prospects, hopes, dignity and rights of millions of people around the world. Success or failure will also influence future population movements, both within States and also, crucially, across international borders.

With that in mind, on Monday 26th October, the Universal Rights Group (URG) together with United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Geneva Environment Network (GEN), the office of the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), and the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF), organised a brown-bag lunch to discuss:

Climate change, cross-border displacement and human rights: is there a protection gap and will COP21 help close it?